THEME: I AM — people associated with phrases that contain the words "I am" (or "I yam"):
Theme answers:
JEAN VALJEAN (24A: "Who Am I?")
GLORIA / GAYNOR (37A: With 39-Across, "I Am What I Am")
RENÉ DESCARTES (49A: "I think, therefore I am")
POPEYE (55A: "I yam what I yam")
YAHWEH (56A: "I Am that I Am")
Word of the Day: "I Am that I Am" (56A) —
"I Am that I Am" is a common English translation of the Hebrewphrase אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (’ehye ’ăšer ’ehye; pronounced [ʔehˈje ʔaˈʃer ʔehˈje])– also "I am who I am", "I will become what I choose to become", "I am what I am", "I will be what I will be", "I create what(ever) I create", or "I am the Existing One". The traditional English translation within Judaism favors "I will be what I will be" because the imperfective aspect in Modern Hebrew is normally used for future tense and there is no present tense with direct object of the verb "to be" in the Hebrew language. // אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (’ehye ’ăšer ’ehye) is the first of three responses given to Moses when he asks for God's name in the Book of Exodus. The word אֶהְיֶה (’Ehyeh) is the first person form of hayah, 'to be', and owing to the peculiarities of Hebrew grammar means 'I am', 'I was', and 'I will be'.[3] The meaning of the longer phrase ’ehyeh ’ăšer ’ehyeh is debated, and might be seen as a promise ('I will be with you') or as statement of incomparability ('I am without equal'). (wikipedia)
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Only two of these five "I (Y)AM" phrases resonated for me at all, so this had no real chance of being a puzzle I'd enjoy much. I guess I can see how there might be something amusing about lining up a bunch of different "I (Y)AM" phrases like this, but for me the solve was slightly awkward, slightly confusing. The first problem was not the puzzle's, but my software's—it can't do italics and so all the theme clues were in quotation marks, which meant *double* quotation marks on every clue (since the clues are all quotations to begin with). But leaving that technical glitch aside, there are a few other problems. The main one, the huge one, the absolutely glaring one, is that GLORIA / GAYNOR is famous for precisely one song, and that song is not "I Am What I Am" but another, much much (much much much ad inf.) more famous "I" song: "I WILL SURVIVE." I lived through the "I WILL SURVIVE" era. That song was, and remains, iconic. It was a juggernaut. It went to No. 1 on the US charts. It won the Grammy for Best Disco Recording in 1980 (the only year that award was given). It's the queen of female empowerment anthems (OK, maybe co-queen with Aretha's version of "R-E-S-P-E-C-T"). So ... "I WILL SURVIVE" has Cartesian, Popeysian levels of fame. Whereas "I Am What I Am" ... doesn't. That song ... peaked at No. 102 (!!!!) on the US Hot 100. In 1983. It did hit No. 3 on the US Dance charts, and No. 13 overall in the UK, but when you line that song up against the likes of "Les Misérables," Descartes, Popeye, and (!) Yahweh ... it falls a *little* short on the recognizability scale. "I WILL SURVIVE" has indeed survived, and to this day it is the only GLORIA / GAYNOR song 99% of the population, including me, can name.* "I Am What I Am," on the other hand, sounds like a confession / apology: "Hey, I'll admit, I'm no 'I WILL SURVIVE,' but I Am What I Am, alright? Give me a break." So even if you thought this theme was cute, you gotta admit, one of these five is not like the others. Jarringly so. Not knowing the JEAN VALJEAN song and being only kinda sorta familiar with that YAHWEH phrase, those are personal blindspots, but that GLORIA / GAYNOR song, that's everyone's blindspot. The singer's name is famous (again, because of that *other* song), so the obscurity of the song in question doesn't affect the puzzle's doability much in the end. But it's weird to have your *central* theme clue be *this* much less famous than all the others (as well as this much less famous than the song that actually made the answer famous in the first place).
Outside the theme, the puzzle feels like it was made in OBAMA's second term, when hashtag TEAMJACOB and PABLO Sandoval were peaking, famewise. To see them here was mildly time-warpy. Original "Twilight" fans (TWIHARDS? Are we still doing that?) are pushing middle-aged now (I kid! You're very young!), and that whole franchise, and particularly the "fan debate" about Jacob v. Edward, feels very much of the past (last book came out in '08, last film in '10). And I love seeing PABLO Sandoval here, actually, but if "two-time All Star" is the only bar you gotta clear for crossword fame, hoo boy have I got some names for you. Let me put this in perspective: Mike Sweeney, Jimmy Key, and Travis Fryman are all *five*-time All-Stars, and unless you really really follow baseball, you don't know who those are. Sandoval was in the league more recently than any of those guys (through last year), but still, his last All-Star appearance was in 2012. Again, I'm not mad at PABLO's being here; open the baseball floodgates, by all means. Just ... be prepared for chaos if a mere two All-Star appearances, neither of them very recent, is the only criterion for crossword inclusion.
Outside of a few of the themers, there were no real trouble spots for me today. Wanted SHEEP and maybe STEED (?) before STEER (35A: Ranch animal). I know LA SALLE more as a University than an explorer, but crosses helped jog my memory (8D: French explorer of the Great Lakes). If you don't know OLY (short for "Olympia") by now, you really should pack it away in your crossword beer cooler (9D: Classic beer of the Pacific Northwest, familiarly). It's not exactly common, but you do see it regularly. All three-letter brands are gonna show up here eventually. Not much else of interest going on in the fill, so I'll stop here. Have a nice day, see you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
*correction: Ms. Gaynor also had a big hit in 1974 with her cover of the Jackson 5's 1971 hit "Never Can Say Goodbye." Gaynor's cover hit No. 9 on the U.S. Pop Singles chart. I know the song better in both Jackson and Communards form, but Gaynor's version was legitimately popular.
Wanted aLbin... (something) for "I Am What I Am," since the character Albin sings it in La Cage Aux Folles. Did Albin have two initials and a six-letter last name? Then I got ALB-- at 41A and wondered if I'd misaligned the clues. GLORIA/GAYNOR required just about every cross. Stumbled over "Train ___" at 23D. Seems like there should be lots of better clues for SET.
That confluence of pop culture proper nouns in the midwest was brutal for me. Worst DNF on a Weds in recent memory. Still a fun theme and enjoyable puzzle overall.
Gloria also had a huge hit with a cover of "Never Can Say Goodbye." But I agree with the poster who mentioned the "I Am What I Am" song from La Cage. That's the only one I know.
Medium/challenging for me. What I didn’t know I just didn’t know. Needed crosses and guesses in many places. I felt relief when the last letter went in, not joy.
Sort of the flip side of Sunday’s puzzle, where a great theme made up for a lot of shortcomings. Today, the theme is so much not to my taste that whatever fine points the puzzle may have get drowned out.
LPGA should never cross LGA.
Pretty sure we’ve had OLY before, and I didn’t know it before, either.
What, we couldn’t find “I am” quotes by PABLO or ELWAY?
Terrible grid, making it hard to enter a corner if you didn't know the bridging clue. I never DNF a Wednesday until this one. It didn't help that I don't know Gloria Gaynor or Pablo Sandoval or Oly or most of the Hogwarts crew.
I hope that the use of "Yahweh" doesn't trip up too many Jewish fillers. Seems a little obtuse to include a word/name that a significant world religion of that specific deity isn't allowed to write.
Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed, When not to be receives reproach of being, And the just pleasure lost which is so deemed Not by our feeling but by others seeing. For why should others false adulterate eyes Give salutation to my sportive blood? Or on my frailties why are frailer spies, Which in their wills count bad what I think good? No, I am that I am, and they that level At my abuses reckon up their own; I may be straight, they they themselves be bevel. By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown, Unless this general evil they maintain: All men are bad, and in their badness reign.
Two days in a row with out-of-the-box themes, and terrific ones at that. By out-of-the-box I don’t mean tricky-as-in-Thursday, rather, I mean non-standard on standard theme days. Highly unusual and highly wonderful. Smile producing.
On top of that, some sweet bite in places, which is, IMO, how it should be on Wednesday, but which has become less frequent. More smiles.
But wait, there are also some lovely answers – GUSSY, DEMUR, LIPSYNC, THROE, NAYSAY. So yes, I left this puzzle very happy.
Bonuses: A mini-theme of ending schwa de vivre: GLORIA / TIARA / SELMA / ARGENTINA / OBAMA / ACCRA / ERA / NASA. Plus, a transportation-related micro-theme in MAIN LOT, STEER, RIDE, BUSLANE, and IDLE. And a bit of amazement that RENÉ DESCARTES had never appeared in a NYT puzzle before. Now, René, you not only exist, but you also have arrived.
Addison, congratulations on your debut. This felt like the work of a veteran and made me hungry for those two you have in the queue. What a pleasure this was – thank you so much!
I agree with Adam, need to work Kung Fu Panda into the clue. I feel like two-time All Star understates his fame a bit, he has four World Series rings as well, but agreed that even with all that, once you accept someone of his level of fame... a lot of baseball players qualify.
Early morning Shakespeare! Thanks to @The Bard. Rex, I hope you had a good if short visit with your daughter. I enjoyed the puzzle though had to get the Gaynor on crosses.
Agree with Unknown at 7:14 - YAHWEH is a real problem and will be offensive to some solvers. A Jewish Redditor summed it up well a few months ago:
"'Yahweh' is the best guess of some scholars about the original pronunciation of the name of God in ancient Judaism, which in English we might write as YHVH (Biblical Hebrew does not have vowels). Jews believe that YHVH is God's true name and it is extremely sacred to us. We believe that the true pronunciation has been lost and that we should never try to pronounce it.
This is why you will almost never hear a Jewish person say "Yahweh." You would never hear the term "Yahweh" used in services in a synagogue, for example.
When Jews read the name YHVH, we instead say Adonai, which means "my Lord." As such the name YHVH is often written with the vowels for the word Adonai as a reminder to say Adonai instead of attempting to pronounce it (as I understand it, misreading this is where Christians got the term "Jehovah").
Man of us have no problem with "Yahweh" as a matter of historical scholarship. As a matter of comparative religion and general discussion, however, it's offensive, though almost always unintentionally.
Religious Jews take the practice of not pronouncing YHVH very seriously--some won't even pronounce the Hebrew letters YHVH aloud--and even for many secular Jews, it's widely accepted as a cultural norm. The Jewish reverence in referring to God is so great, many Jews choose not to even write out the English word "God," preferring G-d and similar substitutes."
OLY was a gimmee for me as I once spent a year (1956-57} at Kodiak Ak Naval Air Station. Olympia was THE beer up there. Agree with Rex about Gloria Gaynor. But his complaint that he needed the software to do double quotation marks - that's nuts.
I liked this one just fine, had me at PABLO. The Sandoval guy was in Boston for a while and I also saw him play in SF, coincidentally sitting next to his biggest fan. Good times.
Did not know the GAYNOR song but easy from crosses.
Old Crossword Friend TAM shows up. How have you been?
You can try drawing a street food vendor's conveyance with an umbrella over his wares, and call his contraption a rainy day cart. Sorry.
Congrats on the debut, AS. Actually Smiled several times while solving this one, and thanks for all the fun.
The worst thing in this puzzle is "MAINLOT", 29A. Worse than GREEN PAINT or ATE A SANDWICH. I did not enjoy this puzz but that happens. Would have liked having IAMB in the grid.
We had quite a few really clean, snappy grids recently so apparently it was time to take out the trash. I just wish they hadn't dumped it all into this grid.
OMG, - TEAM JACOB, PABLO Sandoval, AQUAVIT, YAHWEH, Queen ANNE's Lace, ISLEY Brothers, ALBUS (!?!) . . . a GLORIA GAYNOR song that even Casey Kasem wouldn't recognize, a Gap Band(!) song from when Reagan was president, yada yada yada. OMG, what a load of manure.
Hopefully Shortz was just jonseing for a trivia quiz and got it all out of his system today. Obviously not my cup of tea.
Filled in all the mini puzzles, skipped the middle, and with no idea of the theme, got to I Yam for Popeye and the aha. Biggest holdup was over Mitzie Gaynor, thinking the clue might be embedded in a Nelly Forbush/South Pacific song. Gloria Gaynor was part of my Boomer world but I hated disco and as it turns out, there’s no E in Mitzi (which reminds me, there’s no I in team but there is Me).
I have the liberal arts education view of Decartes, which goes right up to and stops at I Think etc. and is good for crossword solving. Schools might want to start teaching his thoughts on intellectual perception independent of the senses in an age characterized by “I type therefore I am and a thousand people agree with me on a website agree so I must be right.” We’re all susceptible to that trap, who am I to preach.
A good bit of trivia here, great if it were my trivia, but it wasn’t. Still, fun was had. Liked it. Congrats Addison Snell, a perfect name to start an English nursery rhyme.
Geez, peeps--why is everyone so out of sorts about this little puzzle? Rex writes a doctoral thesis on GLORIA GAYNOR because a song she did record is used as a clue here instead of a more famous one she also did record. Bitter complaints about a very well known beer nickname. Furious complaints about very specific individual religious practices-- @Anonymous 8:07AM: Do you also boycott Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica, the NYT, WaPo, etc., etc. because they print the word YAHWEH? Yeah. I didn't think so.
This was a generally well executed and often quite clever Wednesday effort by a first-timer. My biggest complaint is Rex's blithe dismissal of Aretha as "maybe co-queen" of female empowerment anthems along with GLORIA GAYNOR. There is Aretha and then there is everyone else. I thought this was settled law.
No angst at all as I blithely guessed at the TEAM JACOB/ GLORIA/ ALBUS/ISLEY crosses. They'd either be right or they'd be wrong. If they were wrong, well, there was no $100,000 to lose.
I picked what seemed like the most likely names -- and I was right. Even on the ALBUS/ISLEY cross.
"I Am What I Am" is the eleven o'clock number from "La Cage". Was GLORIA GAYNOR the stage name of the guy who sings it? I didn't think so, and anyway the only GAYNOR singer I know is Mitzi. So GLORIA was a great big "Huh?"
I had the opposite problem with "Les Miz". I thought I knew all the song titles: "I Dreamed a Dream"; "Bring Him Home"; "Do You Hear the People Sing"; "One Day More" -- but I didn't know that one. JEAN VALJEAN came in anyway.
Many too many names, but nevertheless a very cute idea for a puzzle. The cuteness was all in the clues and not in the answers. I thought the cutest clue/answer of all was YAHWEH. This constructor definitely has a wicked sense of humor.
ALAS. This was unfortunate. And frustrating. I recognize these names but other than POPEYE and God, no idea how they relate to their clues. And even there, YAHWEH was a struggle. (My NIV Bible says “I am who I am.”) Plus never heard of TEAM JACOB or AQUAVIT and then just to be nice and sadistic there’s a Harry Potter thrown in. Not knowing some of that is ON ME but EGAD!
With apologies to the constructor as I know this was a debut. Not saying it was a bad puzzle, just not my personal cup of tea.
That said, I cannot possibly let pass Rex Parker’s declaration that either the song I Will Survive or Respect is the “queen of female empowerment anthems” As every woman of a certain age knows without the slightest doubt, The True Queen - then, now and always - is the legendary Helen Reddy with her incomparable I Am Woman, the feminist hymn for the ages.
I didn't really enjoy this puzzle. I kept trying to find where SAM-I-AM was supposed to go.
I was also surprised they used YAHWEH in a puzzle! What GALL. I'm not religious and don't personally find it offensive, but it was definitely unexpected.
The 8:39 anonymous should read the 8:00 anonymous's explanation for when it's permissible to write out "Yahweh." It's okay in historical and scholarly contexts, but according to Judaism you shouldn't speak or write the name as a way to refer to god qua god, which the clue here does. So no, people who are offended by this clue are probably not offended by seeing it written in Wikipedia or, for example, in 8:00 anonymous's explanation of when it's permissible to write it.
Sandoval's biggest baseball claim to fame is hitting three homeruns in one game in the World Series, two of which were against arguably the greatest pitcher of his generation (Justin Verlander). This puts him in a category with Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson.
I know -- I was there, in my Tigers shirt preparing to root for Verly in the hopes of seeing him do something like pitch a no-no (he'd been so dominant against the A's in game 5 of the ALDS, where I was also present). After the second Panda homerun, I zipped up my (black-with-orange-writing SFBACC) jacket to cover the shirt and decided to just go with the crowd and root for history.
@Z, 😀 I also thought of To be is to do, (saw it on a door at a comedy club in NY in the '70s. But the it was Ado and I Do's that brought it to mind.
@Southside, Some people may disagree on The Name and garbage. Just sayin'.
@Anon 8:45 am, "It was the the missing umlaut that threw me." In my new campaign to get the entertaining Anons to come in with a name, that line calls for an identity here.
To clarify the confusion: "I Am What I Am" was written by Jerry Herman for the 1983 Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles. Producer Joel Diamond recognized the song's disco potential when he saw the musical on Broadway and arranged for Gloria Gaynor, whose 1978 Park Avenue Sound album he'd produced, to record it. Gaynor's version was released as a single in 1983.
Hey All ! I am the Eggman... Har (Disclaimer: I'm not a Beatles fan, but dang, their music has seeped into the pores of practically everyone, so why not use it?)
Interesting puz. Knew the names, but only two quotes, RENEs and POPEYEs. Got a chuckle out of @kitshef's plaint of not finding "I Am" quotes for PABLO and ELWAY. How about "I am a painter" Picasso, and "I am a Bronco touchdown thrower"? 😁
Would a "whoop" after saying yes at the altar be I DOS ADOS?
An I yam what I yam puzzle that is what it is. Hm. Seems fine. Maybe a bit scattered. Smooth fill for me without Uncle G.
Yays:
GUSSY: Never heard it alone. Always "gussied up," but still fun.
JEAN VALJEAN: Yay for the Les Mis original soundtrack.
ALBUS: Harry Potter is #1!
LIP SYNC: I like the term, but hate the actual thing. My ears need you.
RENE DESCARTES: Can't believe I wrote him straight in like I've taken philosophy.
POPEYE: Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
YAHWEH: Um, hello, he who's name shall not be spoken. A veiled Harry Potter reference? Did I mention Harry Potter is #1!?
TIARA: Yes, please.
ELWAY: Being from Denver, I am stuck with this guy. His biggest problem was not being a god when all the Bronco fans treated him like one. Apparently we bought Seattle's old QB for this year, so maybe they'll stink less.
EPOXY: I like mixing epoxy. Watching the goo ooze into a multi-colored time-limited blob of can-do is exciting.
Boos:
I DOS vs. ADOS. Enough do-ing.
IDEATE: Never gonna be a word.
EWING: TV shows from the 70s. Sigh.
THROE: Singular. SINGULAR. Ug.
Uniclues:
1 Statement heard at a celebration in a crown shop, or back stage at a beauty pageant, or in my head when I finish a puzzle. 2 Gathering of disgruntled people who aren't going to do anything about it. 3 Still being stuck on the idea Bella Swan deserves a werewolf.
1 NEXT TIARA ON ME 2 IDLE GALL RODEO 3 TEAM JACOB EPOXY
I, too, thought immediately of the "I Am What I Am" song from La Cage Aux Folles that I believe ends Act I. But I suppose it might have been tough for constructor and solvers alike to drop ALBIN MOUGEOTTE into the grid. (Har) But you could go with Albin's stage name: ZAZA!
Here are the lyrics to the Cage Aux Folles song, which probably would have not worked for GLORIA GAYNOR:
I am what I am I am my own special creation. So come take a look, Give me the hook or the ovation. It's my world that I want to take a little pride in, My world, and it's not a place I have to hide in. Life's not worth a damn, 'Til you can say, "Hey world, I am what I am." I am what I am, I don't want praise, I don't want pity. I bang my own drum, Some think it's noise, I think it's pretty. And so what, if I love each feather and each spangle, Why not try to see things from a diff'rent angle? Your life is a sham 'til you can shout out loud I am what I am! I am what I am And what I am needs no excuses. I deal my own deck Sometimes the ace, sometimes the deuces. There's one life, and there's no return and no deposit; One life, so it's time to open up your closet. Life's not worth a damn 'til you can say, "Hey world, I am what I am!"
I agree that Aretha is the queen, but if we're looking for a Mount Rushmore group, we better toss Ms. Tina Turner in there.
Speaking of one-hit wonders, “What I Am” by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians would’ve fit the theme. I have no problem with the inclusion of the obscure Gloria Gaynor song. Fun puzzle. Thanks.
Clever theme idea, but if your themers are going to be names, please don’t fill up the rest of the grid with more and more names. I misspelled two of them for a Wednesday DNF.
High point of the puzzle for me was LIP SYNC. Low point — other than names — was MAIN LOT. Might as well have been the number one taboo (MAIN NOT), the drunkest person at the bar (MAIN SOT) or the most popular kid in kindergarten (MAIN TOT).
Today was the exact opposite of yesterday for me. Yesterday was full of bland fill. The theme severely restricted the choices. Today had ten sparkly entries, a lot for a Wednesday.
GLORIA GAYNOR...!!!! Who can ever forget watching Kevin Kline dance to "I Will Survive" in the movie In & Out? That's what I'll forever remember him and her for. Never heard I Am What I Am (sigh).... What else have I never heard before? TEAM JACOB...I don't know NIL about baseball and Pedro seemed. like a fine name....I couldn't spell ALBUS, forgot about ISLEY and although I've seen YAHWEH in other puzzles, I have no idea who it is. Did anyone else put in SAILOR....? You know, to follow POPEYE? AQUAVIT tastes like a burning anise wiggling down your throat. THROE threw me off kilter and so did PPE. I liked LGA and NYC. After I finished, I decided this was one of the hardest Weds I've done in years....It took me a while to get her done but.... this one had some nice bells and whistles. Looking at you LASALLE and JEANVALJEAN KARL and JORG were sitting at the bar (kidding!).......
I only knew the Scandinavian spelling, AKVAVIT. By the time I realized the puzzle was looking for the English spelling, I had lost a lot of time and mental energy. Not that I'm in a race, except with myself, which is pretty ridiculous, isn't it.
This puzzle contained too many obscurities for a Wednesday.
@GILL: "Who can ever forget watching Kevin Kline dance to "I Will Survive" in the movie In & Out?"
Oh, I can, @GILL! Trust me. It's easy. I saw "In and Out". I loved "In and Out". But I have no idea what Kevin Kline danced to in "In and Out" or even that he danced at all.
The wonderful thing about having a memory like mine -- especially in the middle of a pandemic -- is that everything old is new again. Well, maybe not the movies I've seen 16 times like GWTW, but certainly anything I've seen only once is new again.
May I borrow your memory when you're not using it, @GILL?
I feel for my older Brothers and sisters in faith. Casual anti-Catholic tropes and slurs are always tolerated here. Now We have the Times being, at best, way too casual about something deeply sacred to a lot of people. At worst, it's Anti-Semitic, another ugly thing no one seems to do much about.
I knew ISLEY, and I could see it was GLORIA though I'm part of #TEAMMitzi when it comes to Gaynors. But the ALBUS/TRU cross stumped me, so I finally looked up Dumbledore and got it.
Also, my knowledge of Les Miserables is derived almost entirely from an old black-and-white movie (1935, I think -- older than I am, so I saw it on TV, of course); never read the book, and although I could see 24A had to be JEAN VALJEAN, I had no idea why. From the comments here, I gather it comes from the musical.
MAIN LOT, train SET are really scraping the barrel. But as @Lewis points out, there are lots of great words here, so I like it overall.
@Unknown 7:14 AM - Agreed. I mean, I spent a total of 9 weeks at a baal teshuva yeshiva in Jerusalem in 1983, and I am not orthodox, but this gave me the willies nevertheless. I remember a rabbi at Ohr Somayach who would say "Yud Kay Vav Kay" when he needed to refer to the tetragrammaton. I thought maybe observant Jews could enter YKVK in the puzzle. Not sure how kosher a solution that is, though.
@Anonymous 8:39 AM - For Jewish puzzle fillers, the issue of the four letter name of God is as real, significant, and valid as all the complaints about entries referring to gun-owner organizations, fascist dictators, racists, misogynists, etc. No less valid, and also no more valid. To some people it matters, to others it doesn't. But it is certainly a valid issue for commentary and discussion on this blog.
So easy for me -- pen and paper, as a crossword should be solved. Sympathies to any Orthodox Jews who have that problem in the SE. OTOH, we often see G*D in the puzzles. I have a similar problem with writing out or uttering the name of the previous POTUS. Easily solved by simply not writing in the word. Does that mean the puzzle wasn't solved? No. I regularly solve crosswords in my head without touching pen to paper.
Re Kung Fu Panda: He is not in the same category as Reggie Jackson. Jackson hit his 3 on three consecutive pitches. And anyone who writes that he is in the same category as Babe Ruth can not be taken seriously. Ruth of course hit three taters in a a world series game twice (1926, and 1928. Not in 1927--his 60 Home-Run Season). And Colonel errhode, you forgot Albert Pujols who did in `11 against the Rangers.
Sandoval is more akin to Gene Tennace who hit consecutive homeruns in his first two World Series at bats. He hit another a couple of games later. Point is, like the Panda, he was not a hall of fame slugger, unlike Ruth, Jackson and Pujols. And Justin Verlander's wife is better than he is.
My side of the “Twilight” fan debate is DONTCARE, but it wouldn’t fit.
Being asexual, GLORIA is neither GAYNOR straight.
Explorer: I see the Great Lakes! Companion: ALAS LASALLE. ‘Tis a MERE PINT of OLY.
Rex occasionally has to add a POC (Paragraph of Convenience) to get his word count up to an acceptable level. Today’s Gloria GAYNOR rant was an example of this.
This was a fun debut puzzle. Thanks and congrats, Addison Snell.
I thought this puzzle was easier and less satisfying than either this week's Monday or Tuesday. Nevertheless, congrats to the constructor on their debut. It is for the most part a nice, clean grid. The four letter name of God was a demerit, as discussed by a number of folks today. I don't think THROE was properly clued—Merriam says pang or spasm, which is hardly an "intense convulsion." I've never seen it used in the singular, although it is a legitimate form. I also think IDEATE was poorly clued—I've never seen or heard it used as clued. It generally means the act of forming an idea or conception. It is most familiar, as a process noun rather than a verb, in the phrase "suicidal ideation." I did, of course, love 46A [Not really sing, say] for LIP SYNC.
Oh, one more thing: I had a rare DNF at 68A (and got 61D wrong), because I do not know football from my elbow, and these days NAh is much more common than NAW (turns out there is no John ELhAY in the Pro Football Hall of Fame).
@whatsername 9:21 - spot on about Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman.” Thanks for the link. The song was released as a single in May, 1972. Roe v. Wade was decided in January, 1973. It really did feel as though women were becoming empowered; as though if we have to, we can do anything. I have listened to the song several times since the leaked Dobbs opinion appeared and I try to regain the hope and optimism I felt when I first heard the song but I don’t feel quite as strong or invincible as I once did.
Tough. I knew POPEYE and RENE but the others as clued were WOEs. I’m familiar with GLORIA but @everybody not that song and I my knowledge of Les Miserables is extremely shallow...so tough. Clever idea, liked it.
Today's puzzle could have reached such great heights had the creator read and remembered a 1993 NY Times interview with author Tom Robbins about his forthcoming book, "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas," which concluded with this paragraph: "There's a line in this book, spoken by a Japanese whose English is somewhat deficient: 'As Popeye say, I sweet potato what I sweet potato.' That broke me up." I don't know how it could have fit in the puzzle; I just wish it had.
Ay, Dios mío @Nancy. Maybe a little jogging of the mind and a drinky poo and you'd remember? Kevin is trying to figure out if he's a man so he played this tape asking him to explore his masculinity...(He and Tom Selleck - yummiliciously gorgeous) are lovers but Kevin wants to make sure he IS a man. The recording he's listening to is hilarious and in proper time, GLORIA comes on singing I Will Survive." I could not stop giggling. I think I watched THAT part of the movie a million times. You can borrow anything of mine you'd like except my toe nails. They are perfect and I don't want to share....
Lotsa names, but was in the know about all the theme ones except for YAHWEH. Didn't know the GAYNOR song, tho. Also didn't know: AQUAVIT. ALBUS. KARL. TEAMJACOB. Knew the rest of the names.
staff weeject pick: PPE. debut abreve meat. Also reminded m&e of POPEYE. honorary weeject: IAM. Some nice weeject stacks, runnin thru the lower center lots, btw.
fave names: ISLEY Brothers. LASALLE parked in the MAINLOT. fave other stuff included: LIPSYNC. ARGENTINA. NAYSAY. BUSLANE thru the MAINLOT. RODEO. E/W puzgrid symmetry. NIL & PEG clues. fave Ow de Speration: LPGA/LGA. MAINLOT.
Thanx for all that IAM, Mr. Snell dude. And congratz on yer nice debut.
@errhode's World Series reminiscence sure made me grin. I thought she was a he, but no, Erin Rhodes, who is quite the sportswoman herself if you are a curling fan. I am, and a Giants fan too, and remember that game, which I watched on TV, and of course also heard on the radio. It is always a puzzle whether to go with Jon Miller on the radio, or Kruk and Kuyp on the TV and I tend to do both at the same time. PABLO was everyone's favorite Giant. We pretty much dropped the "Kung Fu" part and just called him Panda.
At my school, almost everyone took French as their modern language, and therefore almost everyone slogged through JEAN VALJEAN. I was grateful (in retrospect) to have taken Latin, followed by 3 intense years of Spanish. Took French too, but only after my Freshman year in college. I regularly read novels in both and am still of the opinion that the best poetry ever written was in Spanish.
Of course I got RENEDESCARTES right off, and POPEYE. The other quotes were more of a guess. But the concept was well done and the fill was Easy but not too Easy. It was a challenge right up to the end, as I had forgotten about John ELWAY, whom my 49ers basically destroyed in the SuperBowl. We had Joe Montana!
Never been to ARGENTINA, but a cousin and I had a wonderful trip to Chile, to meet my daughter who had spent 8 weeks sea kayaking and then hiking in Patagonia. We met her in Puerto Montt, and in her honor visited three of poet PABLO Neruda's houses.
I don't know about Gloria, but Mitzi Gaynor, who famously appeared on the same Sullivan show as the Beatles US debut, made much more of an impression on what was then a very impressionable youth than did the fabulous four. Apropos nothing much, I guess.
No time to arrange playdates for your demanding kids? Drop them off at the Descartes Descares Center! If you think you're experiencing the ultimate in descares services, it's because you are!
Joe D - loved your play on words with ND's song! I didn't understand it at first (the ref to Cher), but then clicked on your link. First thought was "Oh no, a ND song..." But I sat through the whole thing and wondered why a "chair"? So many other/better lines to use. "Not even a chair" - seriously? 🤔 But the funny thing is, I got so engrossed in the song and that stupid (IMO) lyric that I completely forgot about your "funny"! So I arrow back from YT and then I see " Cher" in your post (again) and burst out laughing! Thanks for the moment of 😊
Loved to see Kung Fu Panda! That was the highlight for me. Quite a few head scratchers, but thankfully helpful crosses. YAHWEH made me think fondly of my freshmen year roomie at Illinois. A self-proclaimed “almost orthodox” woman of Jewish heritage and faith, she and her oh so welcoming parents introduced me to their rich history and faith and food. And from them I learned YUD KAY VAV KAY and YAKVEK. I have been forever grateful for such kind and patient friends. Love puzzles that evome such good memories.
Complete selfishly, if I could have one crossword wish it would be to never have sports-themed clues again. ELWAY and PABLO were a big trouble for me today. Took me a while to realize I wasn't looking for a soccer play named NI_ Love, and I had NAH before NAW.
GLORIA GAYNOR and LACAGE (aux) FOLLES have the same number of letters. La Cage aux Folles is not a person, but that might have been a better answer (with appropriate modification of the clue).
Too many unknowns in this for me. I had BUS LINE at 7D instead of BUS LANE so 24A was JEANVILJEAN. The B at 3D TEAM JACOB was just a guess but still couldn't fill in 41A ALB_S and 34D TR_, so I threw in the towel, fell on my sword and took the DNF.
Did enjoy seeing RENÉ DESCARTES at 49A. DESCARTES tried what he called radical doubting and found that the only thing that he couldn't doubt the reality of was the fact that he was doubting. So maybe the quote should be "I doubt, therefore I am."
He was able to even doubt the reality of the world around him. He asked his reader if they had ever had a dream so real and vivid that they only realized it was just a dream after they woke up. Of course most of us would say yes. If that's the case then maybe someday we will have another awakening and realize that what we thought of all along as being our waking life was also but a dream. That's some radical doubting there, people.
After that philosophical zinger, there's only one thing to do.
Row, row, row your boat Gently down the stream Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily Life is but a dream
Jackson actually homered on FOUR consecutive swings. He walked on four pitches in his first AB in Game 6. And homered in his last plate appearance in Game 5. FOUR CONSECUTIVE SWINGS!
Aw shucks, @old timer 12:42. When you talked about some famous Giants baseball game that you watched on TV and heard on the radio, I was sure you meant The Miracle of Coogan's Bluff/Bobby Thomson game of 1951. But, alas, you didn't. The game you're talking about came long after I stopped watching baseball. And I stopped watching baseball in 1957 when my beloved Giants were spirited out of NY in the dead of night and I realized that baseball owners were a crass, greedy lot who did not deserve my loyalty.
@errhode 9:39 AM. Great baseball memory. I was a Panda maniac (although a diehard Cubs fan) and cheered myself hoarse at the tv that game despite also loving Verlander. My love of the game and a bestie through high school, also a super fan had summer long arguments over our stacks of baseball cards î
I’m a Panda fan too (despite being a lifelong Cubs fan) and have such good memories of that game/series. Loved Verlander too. Thanks for the wonderful memory.
I thought the Southern half, was excellent with the thematic triad of RENEDESCARTES POPEYE JAHWEH topped with LIPSYNC. Plus the SELMA RODEO.
I am always amused by how close the POPEYE saying is to the name of God. I think I even mentioned it on this blog.
From GLORIA GAYNOR up not so good theme-wise. But some nice fill. Clues for EDEN LPGA ARGENTINA. GUSSY DEMURE SMELT LASALLE. I wish the ALA was atop LAL. Close but no cigar.
PABLO and TEAMJACOB had fair crosses. Not as happy with JEANVALJEAN crossing AQUAVITA but not that unhappy.
The Giant world series game I remember the most (just like Charlie Brown) was when McCovey failed to hit his bullet line drive 3 inches higher and Bobby Richardson snagged it for the final out of the series. What a heartbreaker.
To me this was Thu-Fri level. Obscure terms, PPP. I'm not a philosophy major (I have a job that earns money, but I did know POPEYE) so it played a bit tougher for me.
Heritage building with an Idyllic location for romantic getaways. Katoomba Mountain Lodge Accommodation; 20 minutes walk from Echo Point! Mountain accommodation
I really enjoyed this one. Loved the mix of names! RENEDESCARTES and POPEYE - all great 😜philosophers! YAHWEH and GAYNOR! Come on - how much fun is that? Very fast and easy - maybe my CIRCADIANRHYTHM (oops that was yesterday) is more suited to late night 🧩 solves.
FYI, as mentioned on Twitter, Black Ink does handle italics and other NYT fanciness these days, if you download the puzzle from the app itself. https://twitter.com/danielpunkass/status/1547421909737955328
Tuesday's clue for "grok" is weak. It connotes a deep, almost spiritual understanding. Read RA Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land," sadly a book that hasn't traveled well in time for me. Though I think it's an ugly word, I still hate to see "grok" misused, as it is by so many here.
For today, I thought for sure that "ooh ooh" would be a meta-themer, if that's even a thing. Or even better, "hoo hoo" but I have no idea how to clue that.
A classmate of mine coined: "I think, therefore I am screwed." It was impromptu, in the middle of a Risk game, and we all roared.
This was a bit unusual in that there was no actual revealer; we just had to figure out what was going on as the solve progressed. At first I was trying to fit Robin Williams in where GLORIA GAYNOR is...that was, of course, before getting to the sweet potato clue. Sorta fun, solving, despite numerous PPPs. Liked some of it; didn't like others (anagram of THROES, BTW). Par.
I thought the gimmick was fine, although some of the themers are far more familliar than others with POPEYE being the #1 entry. and YAHWEH being the last. I don’t know about the Gloria Gaynor hit “I am what I am” but Wikepedia confirms it is one of her biggest, so I guess that’s a legit entry in spite of Rex’s objections. Gloria Gaynor (née Fowles; born September 7, 1943 is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), "Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (1979), "I Am What I Am" (1983), and her version of "Never Can Say Goodbye" (1974). Similarly, I do not recall the phrase spoken by Jean Valjean even though I watched Les Miserables. But it’s a song in the movie/play so that too is entirely legit. One thing I didn’t like was the clue for 23D. If you’re going to be vague and cutesy like that there better be a big aha! moment for the solver. ALAS it’s bland as can be. The crossing for 41A and 34D (ALBUS-TRU) is a Natick. I guessed the U and I guessed right but I’m pretty sure many did not and that isn’t fair. LPGA was clued in a sly manner but there was a tangible aha! moment so it gets a pass. But aside from a few nits this one is a solid Wednesday offering. A bit on the challenging side. It could have been a Thursday. But it is what it is and that’s alright.
And from Jon Prine's 'Dear Abby': Bewildered,bewildered you have no complaint, You are what you are and you aint what you aint. So listen up buster and listen up good, Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood. Signed, Dear Abby.
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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118 comments:
Wanted aLbin... (something) for "I Am What I Am," since the character Albin sings it in La Cage Aux Folles. Did Albin have two initials and a six-letter last name? Then I got ALB-- at 41A and wondered if I'd misaligned the clues. GLORIA/GAYNOR required just about every cross. Stumbled over "Train ___" at 23D. Seems like there should be lots of better clues for SET.
You could have been kinder to a new constructor---were you aware it's his first NYTXW?
Never encountered JORG before. GEORG, sure, but never JORG.
If you are going to have Pablo Sandoval in the crossword, it should be obligatory to work the nickname "Kung Fu Panda" into the clue.
That confluence of pop culture proper nouns in the midwest was brutal for me. Worst DNF on a Weds in recent memory. Still a fun theme and enjoyable puzzle overall.
I know I AM WHAT I AM as the Act 1 finale of La Cage Aux Folles... is it the same song as the Gloria Gaynor song?
Help from "Repo Man" two days in a row. The guys who are repo men are Bud, Miller, Lite, and Oly.
Gloria also had a huge hit with a cover of "Never Can Say Goodbye." But I agree with the poster who mentioned the "I Am What I Am" song from La Cage. That's the only one I know.
Medium/challenging for me. What I didn’t know I just didn’t know. Needed crosses and guesses in many places. I felt relief when the last letter went in, not joy.
Sort of the flip side of Sunday’s puzzle, where a great theme made up for a lot of shortcomings. Today, the theme is so much not to my taste that whatever fine points the puzzle may have get drowned out.
LPGA should never cross LGA.
Pretty sure we’ve had OLY before, and I didn’t know it before, either.
What, we couldn’t find “I am” quotes by PABLO or ELWAY?
Terrible grid, making it hard to enter a corner if you didn't know the bridging clue. I never DNF a Wednesday until this one. It didn't help that I don't know Gloria Gaynor or Pablo Sandoval or Oly or most of the Hogwarts crew.
I hope that the use of "Yahweh" doesn't trip up too many Jewish fillers. Seems a little obtuse to include a word/name that a significant world religion of that specific deity isn't allowed to write.
Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed,
When not to be receives reproach of being,
And the just pleasure lost which is so deemed
Not by our feeling but by others seeing.
For why should others false adulterate eyes
Give salutation to my sportive blood?
Or on my frailties why are frailer spies,
Which in their wills count bad what I think good?
No, I am that I am, and they that level
At my abuses reckon up their own;
I may be straight, they they themselves be bevel.
By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown,
Unless this general evil they maintain:
All men are bad, and in their badness reign.
Sonnet 121
Cogito ergo sum? Not needed for this trivia fest. The theme is trivia based - overall fill is trivia based. PPE, ESS, NYC dead center?
I did like the handsome grid symmetry.
Surprised this ran if it was IDEATEd by the editors. It belongs in TV Guide.
I am what I am - no but It is what it is
Two days in a row with out-of-the-box themes, and terrific ones at that. By out-of-the-box I don’t mean tricky-as-in-Thursday, rather, I mean non-standard on standard theme days. Highly unusual and highly wonderful. Smile producing.
On top of that, some sweet bite in places, which is, IMO, how it should be on Wednesday, but which has become less frequent. More smiles.
But wait, there are also some lovely answers – GUSSY, DEMUR, LIPSYNC, THROE, NAYSAY. So yes, I left this puzzle very happy.
Bonuses: A mini-theme of ending schwa de vivre: GLORIA / TIARA / SELMA / ARGENTINA / OBAMA / ACCRA / ERA / NASA. Plus, a transportation-related micro-theme in MAIN LOT, STEER, RIDE, BUSLANE, and IDLE. And a bit of amazement that RENÉ DESCARTES had never appeared in a NYT puzzle before. Now, René, you not only exist, but you also have arrived.
Addison, congratulations on your debut. This felt like the work of a veteran and made me hungry for those two you have in the queue. What a pleasure this was – thank you so much!
I agree with Adam, need to work Kung Fu Panda into the clue. I feel like two-time All Star understates his fame a bit, he has four World Series rings as well, but agreed that even with all that, once you accept someone of his level of fame... a lot of baseball players qualify.
All that was missing was the main character of "Green Eggs And Ham".
Early morning Shakespeare! Thanks to @The Bard. Rex, I hope you had a good if short visit with your daughter. I enjoyed the puzzle though had to get the Gaynor on crosses.
Agreed. I had the same problem
Agree with Unknown at 7:14 - YAHWEH is a real problem and will be offensive to some solvers. A Jewish Redditor summed it up well a few months ago:
"'Yahweh' is the best guess of some scholars about the original pronunciation of the name of God in ancient Judaism, which in English we might write as YHVH (Biblical Hebrew does not have vowels). Jews believe that YHVH is God's true name and it is extremely sacred to us. We believe that the true pronunciation has been lost and that we should never try to pronounce it.
This is why you will almost never hear a Jewish person say "Yahweh." You would never hear the term "Yahweh" used in services in a synagogue, for example.
When Jews read the name YHVH, we instead say Adonai, which means "my Lord." As such the name YHVH is often written with the vowels for the word Adonai as a reminder to say Adonai instead of attempting to pronounce it (as I understand it, misreading this is where Christians got the term "Jehovah").
Man of us have no problem with "Yahweh" as a matter of historical scholarship. As a matter of comparative religion and general discussion, however, it's offensive, though almost always unintentionally.
Religious Jews take the practice of not pronouncing YHVH very seriously--some won't even pronounce the Hebrew letters YHVH aloud--and even for many secular Jews, it's widely accepted as a cultural norm. The Jewish reverence in referring to God is so great, many Jews choose not to even write out the English word "God," preferring G-d and similar substitutes."
OLY was a gimmee for me as I once spent a year (1956-57} at Kodiak Ak Naval Air Station. Olympia was THE beer up there. Agree with Rex about Gloria Gaynor. But his complaint that he needed the software to do double quotation marks - that's nuts.
Peter Tosh has a great song called I Am That I Am:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DMTgTaWGnE
As a religious Jew, I was honestly furious. I considered DNFing rather than fill it.
I liked this one just fine, had me at PABLO. The Sandoval guy was in Boston for a while and I also saw him play in SF, coincidentally sitting next to his biggest fan. Good times.
Did not know the GAYNOR song but easy from crosses.
Old Crossword Friend TAM shows up. How have you been?
You can try drawing a street food vendor's conveyance with an umbrella over his wares, and call his contraption a rainy day cart. Sorry.
Congrats on the debut, AS. Actually Smiled several times while solving this one, and thanks for all the fun.
The worst thing in this puzzle is "MAINLOT", 29A. Worse than GREEN PAINT or ATE A SANDWICH. I did not enjoy this puzz but that happens. Would have liked having IAMB in the grid.
We had quite a few really clean, snappy grids recently so apparently it was time to take out the trash. I just wish they hadn't dumped it all into this grid.
OMG, - TEAM JACOB, PABLO Sandoval, AQUAVIT, YAHWEH, Queen ANNE's Lace, ISLEY Brothers, ALBUS (!?!) . . . a GLORIA GAYNOR song that even Casey Kasem wouldn't recognize, a Gap Band(!) song from when Reagan was president, yada yada yada. OMG, what a load of manure.
Hopefully Shortz was just jonseing for a trivia quiz and got it all out of his system today. Obviously not my cup of tea.
Filled in all the mini puzzles, skipped the middle, and with no idea of the theme, got to I Yam for Popeye and the aha. Biggest holdup was over Mitzie Gaynor, thinking the clue might be embedded in a Nelly Forbush/South Pacific song. Gloria Gaynor was part of my Boomer world but I hated disco and as it turns out, there’s no E in Mitzi (which reminds me, there’s no I in team but there is Me).
I have the liberal arts education view of Decartes, which goes right up to and stops at I Think etc. and is good for crossword solving. Schools might want to start teaching his thoughts on intellectual perception independent of the senses in an age characterized by “I type therefore I am and a thousand people agree with me on a website agree so I must be right.” We’re all susceptible to that trap, who am I to preach.
A good bit of trivia here, great if it were my trivia, but it wasn’t. Still, fun was had. Liked it. Congrats Addison Snell, a perfect name to start an English nursery rhyme.
@pabloinnh, Congrats on your puzzle name day!
Geez, peeps--why is everyone so out of sorts about this little puzzle? Rex writes a doctoral thesis on GLORIA GAYNOR because a song she did record is used as a clue here instead of a more famous one she also did record. Bitter complaints about a very well known beer nickname. Furious complaints about very specific individual religious practices-- @Anonymous 8:07AM: Do you also boycott Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica, the NYT, WaPo, etc., etc. because they print the word YAHWEH? Yeah. I didn't think so.
This was a generally well executed and often quite clever Wednesday effort by a first-timer. My biggest complaint is Rex's blithe dismissal of Aretha as "maybe co-queen" of female empowerment anthems along with GLORIA GAYNOR. There is Aretha and then there is everyone else. I thought this was settled law.
It was the the missing umlaut that threw me.
A quote puzzle with PPP theme answers!* What’s not to love?
LIP SYNC makes me think RENÉ DESCARTES would have been a great addition to Milli Vanilli.
GUSSY? What year is it again? I haven’t heard that word since my mom died 30 years ago. Although “GUSSied up hussy” has a nice pejorative ring to it.
I am a Tigers’ fan. No need to bring up Sandoval or this SF Giants World Series wins.
This theme reminded me of:
“To be is to do”—Socrates.
“To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre.
“Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra.**
*No, it’s not really a quote puzzle. Why you ruining a good joke with facts?
**Why you ruining a good joke with facts?
No angst at all as I blithely guessed at the TEAM JACOB/ GLORIA/ ALBUS/ISLEY crosses. They'd either be right or they'd be wrong. If they were wrong, well, there was no $100,000 to lose.
I picked what seemed like the most likely names -- and I was right. Even on the ALBUS/ISLEY cross.
"I Am What I Am" is the eleven o'clock number from "La Cage". Was GLORIA GAYNOR the stage name of the guy who sings it? I didn't think so, and anyway the only GAYNOR singer I know is Mitzi. So GLORIA was a great big "Huh?"
I had the opposite problem with "Les Miz". I thought I knew all the song titles: "I Dreamed a Dream"; "Bring Him Home"; "Do You Hear the People Sing"; "One Day More" -- but I didn't know that one. JEAN VALJEAN came in anyway.
Many too many names, but nevertheless a very cute idea for a puzzle. The cuteness was all in the clues and not in the answers. I thought the cutest clue/answer of all was YAHWEH. This constructor definitely has a wicked sense of humor.
ALAS. This was unfortunate. And frustrating. I recognize these names but other than POPEYE and God, no idea how they relate to their clues. And even there, YAHWEH was a struggle. (My NIV Bible says “I am who I am.”) Plus never heard of TEAM JACOB or AQUAVIT and then just to be nice and sadistic there’s a Harry Potter thrown in. Not knowing some of that is ON ME but EGAD!
With apologies to the constructor as I know this was a debut. Not saying it was a bad puzzle, just not my personal cup of tea.
That said, I cannot possibly let pass Rex Parker’s declaration that either the song I Will Survive or Respect is the “queen of female empowerment anthems” As every woman of a certain age knows without the slightest doubt, The True Queen - then, now and always - is the legendary Helen Reddy with her incomparable I Am Woman, the feminist hymn for the ages.
So now I know why Z writes g-d when he comments. Perhaps.
I don't like PPP so I don't much like this puzzle. I did finish it, but with too many look-ups for a Wednesday.
It may seem sometimes I come here just to complain. Today is one of those days.
I guess you never heard of "I AM WOMAN" as a female empowerment anthem, DUH. . . Good day.
I didn't really enjoy this puzzle. I kept trying to find where SAM-I-AM was supposed to go.
I was also surprised they used YAHWEH in a puzzle! What GALL. I'm not religious and don't personally find it offensive, but it was definitely unexpected.
The 8:39 anonymous should read the 8:00 anonymous's explanation for when it's permissible to write out "Yahweh." It's okay in historical and scholarly contexts, but according to Judaism you shouldn't speak or write the name as a way to refer to god qua god, which the clue here does. So no, people who are offended by this clue are probably not offended by seeing it written in Wikipedia or, for example, in 8:00 anonymous's explanation of when it's permissible to write it.
Sandoval's biggest baseball claim to fame is hitting three homeruns in one game in the World Series, two of which were against arguably the greatest pitcher of his generation (Justin Verlander). This puts him in a category with Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson.
I know -- I was there, in my Tigers shirt preparing to root for Verly in the hopes of seeing him do something like pitch a no-no (he'd been so dominant against the A's in game 5 of the ALDS, where I was also present). After the second Panda homerun, I zipped up my (black-with-orange-writing SFBACC) jacket to cover the shirt and decided to just go with the crowd and root for history.
@Z, 😀 I also thought of To be is to do, (saw it on a door at a comedy club in NY in the '70s. But the it was Ado and I Do's that brought it to mind.
@Southside, Some people may disagree on The Name and garbage. Just sayin'.
@Anon 8:45 am, "It was the the missing umlaut that threw me." In my new campaign to get the entertaining Anons to come in with a name, that line calls for an identity here.
To clarify the confusion: "I Am What I Am" was written by Jerry Herman for the 1983 Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles. Producer Joel Diamond recognized the song's disco potential when he saw the musical on Broadway and arranged for Gloria Gaynor, whose 1978 Park Avenue Sound album he'd produced, to record it. Gaynor's version was released as a single in 1983.
Hey All !
I am the Eggman... Har
(Disclaimer: I'm not a Beatles fan, but dang, their music has seeped into the pores of practically everyone, so why not use it?)
Interesting puz. Knew the names, but only two quotes, RENEs and POPEYEs. Got a chuckle out of @kitshef's plaint of not finding "I Am" quotes for PABLO and ELWAY. How about "I am a painter" Picasso, and "I am a Bronco touchdown thrower"? 😁
Would a "whoop" after saying yes at the altar be I DOS ADOS?
That's all I got. Happy Hump Day.
yd -5, should'ves 2
No F's (That BITEs)
RooMonster
DarrinV
An I yam what I yam puzzle that is what it is. Hm. Seems fine. Maybe a bit scattered. Smooth fill for me without Uncle G.
Yays:
GUSSY: Never heard it alone. Always "gussied up," but still fun.
JEAN VALJEAN: Yay for the Les Mis original soundtrack.
ALBUS: Harry Potter is #1!
LIP SYNC: I like the term, but hate the actual thing. My ears need you.
RENE DESCARTES: Can't believe I wrote him straight in like I've taken philosophy.
POPEYE: Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
YAHWEH: Um, hello, he who's name shall not be spoken. A veiled Harry Potter reference? Did I mention Harry Potter is #1!?
TIARA: Yes, please.
ELWAY: Being from Denver, I am stuck with this guy. His biggest problem was not being a god when all the Bronco fans treated him like one. Apparently we bought Seattle's old QB for this year, so maybe they'll stink less.
EPOXY: I like mixing epoxy. Watching the goo ooze into a multi-colored time-limited blob of can-do is exciting.
Boos:
I DOS vs. ADOS. Enough do-ing.
IDEATE: Never gonna be a word.
EWING: TV shows from the 70s. Sigh.
THROE: Singular. SINGULAR. Ug.
Uniclues:
1 Statement heard at a celebration in a crown shop, or back stage at a beauty pageant, or in my head when I finish a puzzle.
2 Gathering of disgruntled people who aren't going to do anything about it.
3 Still being stuck on the idea Bella Swan deserves a werewolf.
1 NEXT TIARA ON ME
2 IDLE GALL RODEO
3 TEAM JACOB EPOXY
I, too, thought immediately of the "I Am What I Am" song from La Cage Aux Folles that I believe ends Act I. But I suppose it might have been tough for constructor and solvers alike to drop ALBIN MOUGEOTTE into the grid. (Har) But you could go with Albin's stage name: ZAZA!
Here are the lyrics to the Cage Aux Folles song, which probably would have not worked for GLORIA GAYNOR:
I am what I am
I am my own special creation.
So come take a look,
Give me the hook or the ovation.
It's my world that I want to take a little pride in,
My world, and it's not a place I have to hide in.
Life's not worth a damn,
'Til you can say, "Hey world, I am what I am."
I am what I am,
I don't want praise, I don't want pity.
I bang my own drum,
Some think it's noise, I think it's pretty.
And so what, if I love each feather and each spangle,
Why not try to see things from a diff'rent angle?
Your life is a sham 'til you can shout out loud
I am what I am!
I am what I am
And what I am needs no excuses.
I deal my own deck
Sometimes the ace, sometimes the deuces.
There's one life, and there's no return and no deposit;
One life, so it's time to open up your closet.
Life's not worth a damn 'til you can say,
"Hey world, I am what I am!"
I agree that Aretha is the queen, but if we're looking for a Mount Rushmore group, we better toss Ms. Tina Turner in there.
I am what I am--a big PABLO "Kung Fu Panda" fan.
I agree with the GREEN PAINT criticism of MAIN LOT, but it does have a reversed "I AM" to offer.
I’m more secular Jew
This isn’t your fathers hadra
Speaking of one-hit wonders, “What I Am” by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians would’ve fit the theme. I have no problem with the inclusion of the obscure Gloria Gaynor song. Fun puzzle. Thanks.
Thx, Addison, for this challenging Wednes. puz! :)
Med++
Dnfed at the JORG / VALJEAN cross.
Many other WOES, but crosses helped out.
Enjoyed the battle, as always. :)
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
JORG = JÖRG
While I dislike dropping umlauts and other diacritical marks in puzzles, it has a long tradition.
I do not like green eggs and ham.
Clever theme idea, but if your themers are going to be names, please don’t fill up the rest of the grid with more and more names. I misspelled two of them for a Wednesday DNF.
High point of the puzzle for me was LIP SYNC. Low point — other than names — was MAIN LOT. Might as well have been the number one taboo (MAIN NOT), the drunkest person at the bar (MAIN SOT) or the most popular kid in kindergarten (MAIN TOT).
Today was the exact opposite of yesterday for me. Yesterday was full of bland fill. The theme severely restricted the choices. Today had ten sparkly entries, a lot for a Wednesday.
GLORIA GAYNOR...!!!! Who can ever forget watching Kevin Kline dance to "I Will Survive" in the movie In & Out? That's what I'll forever remember him and her for. Never heard I Am What I Am (sigh)....
What else have I never heard before? TEAM JACOB...I don't know NIL about baseball and Pedro seemed. like a fine name....I couldn't spell ALBUS, forgot about ISLEY and although I've seen YAHWEH in other puzzles, I have no idea who it is. Did anyone else put in SAILOR....? You know, to follow POPEYE?
AQUAVIT tastes like a burning anise wiggling down your throat.
THROE threw me off kilter and so did PPE. I liked LGA and NYC.
After I finished, I decided this was one of the hardest Weds I've done in years....It took me a while to get her done but.... this one had some nice bells and whistles. Looking at you LASALLE and JEANVALJEAN
KARL and JORG were sitting at the bar (kidding!).......
I only knew the Scandinavian spelling, AKVAVIT. By the time I realized the puzzle was looking for the English spelling, I had lost a lot of time and mental energy. Not that I'm in a race, except with myself, which is pretty ridiculous, isn't it.
This puzzle contained too many obscurities for a Wednesday.
Yes
@GILL: "Who can ever forget watching Kevin Kline dance to "I Will Survive" in the movie In & Out?"
Oh, I can, @GILL! Trust me. It's easy. I saw "In and Out". I loved "In and Out". But I have no idea what Kevin Kline danced to in "In and Out" or even that he danced at all.
The wonderful thing about having a memory like mine -- especially in the middle of a pandemic -- is that everything old is new again. Well, maybe not the movies I've seen 16 times like GWTW, but certainly anything I've seen only once is new again.
May I borrow your memory when you're not using it, @GILL?
@Sioux Falls 6:21 AM - Haha, no, but I thought the same thing when I saw that song title.
I feel for my older Brothers and sisters in faith. Casual anti-Catholic tropes and slurs are always tolerated here. Now We have the Times being, at best, way too casual about something deeply sacred to a lot of people. At worst, it's Anti-Semitic, another ugly thing no one seems to do much about.
EGAD! what’s in a name? Not much I am saying.
I knew ISLEY, and I could see it was GLORIA though I'm part of #TEAMMitzi when it comes to Gaynors. But the ALBUS/TRU cross stumped me, so I finally looked up Dumbledore and got it.
Also, my knowledge of Les Miserables is derived almost entirely from an old black-and-white movie (1935, I think -- older than I am, so I saw it on TV, of course); never read the book, and although I could see 24A had to be JEAN VALJEAN, I had no idea why. From the comments here, I gather it comes from the musical.
MAIN LOT, train SET are really scraping the barrel. But as @Lewis points out, there are lots of great words here, so I like it overall.
@Unknown 7:14 AM - Agreed. I mean, I spent a total of 9 weeks at a baal teshuva yeshiva in Jerusalem in 1983, and I am not orthodox, but this gave me the willies nevertheless. I remember a rabbi at Ohr Somayach who would say "Yud Kay Vav Kay" when he needed to refer to the tetragrammaton. I thought maybe observant Jews could enter YKVK in the puzzle. Not sure how kosher a solution that is, though.
Loved it. Good memories of dancing to the Gloria Gaynor song that Rex never heard. Very clever themers. Thank you Addison!
Regarding my previous reply to @Unknown 7:14 AM about the four letter name of God in Hebrew, I meant to suggest entering YAKWEK.
@Anonymous 8:39 AM - For Jewish puzzle fillers, the issue of the four letter name of God is as real, significant, and valid as all the complaints about entries referring to gun-owner organizations, fascist dictators, racists, misogynists, etc. No less valid, and also no more valid. To some people it matters, to others it doesn't. But it is certainly a valid issue for commentary and discussion on this blog.
So easy for me -- pen and paper, as a crossword should be solved.
Sympathies to any Orthodox Jews who have that problem in the SE. OTOH, we often see G*D in the puzzles. I have a similar problem with writing out or uttering the name of the previous POTUS. Easily solved by simply not writing in the word. Does that mean the puzzle wasn't solved? No. I regularly solve crosswords in my head without touching pen to paper.
Re Kung Fu Panda:
He is not in the same category as Reggie Jackson. Jackson hit his 3 on three consecutive pitches. And anyone who writes that he is in the same category as Babe Ruth can not be taken seriously.
Ruth of course hit three taters in a a world series game twice (1926, and 1928. Not in 1927--his 60 Home-Run Season).
And Colonel errhode, you forgot Albert Pujols who did in `11 against the Rangers.
Sandoval is more akin to Gene Tennace who hit consecutive homeruns in his first two World Series at bats. He hit another a couple of games later. Point is, like the Panda, he was not a hall of fame slugger, unlike Ruth, Jackson and Pujols.
And Justin Verlander's wife is better than he is.
“Iams”. . DOGFOOD
“I am not a crook”. ……….
My side of the “Twilight” fan debate is DONTCARE, but it wouldn’t fit.
Being asexual, GLORIA is neither GAYNOR straight.
Explorer: I see the Great Lakes!
Companion: ALAS LASALLE. ‘Tis a MERE PINT of OLY.
Rex occasionally has to add a POC (Paragraph of Convenience) to get his word count up to an acceptable level. Today’s Gloria GAYNOR rant was an example of this.
This was a fun debut puzzle. Thanks and congrats, Addison Snell.
I thought this puzzle was easier and less satisfying than either this week's Monday or Tuesday. Nevertheless, congrats to the constructor on their debut. It is for the most part a nice, clean grid. The four letter name of God was a demerit, as discussed by a number of folks today. I don't think THROE was properly clued—Merriam says pang or spasm, which is hardly an "intense convulsion." I've never seen it used in the singular, although it is a legitimate form. I also think IDEATE was poorly clued—I've never seen or heard it used as clued. It generally means the act of forming an idea or conception. It is most familiar, as a process noun rather than a verb, in the phrase "suicidal ideation." I did, of course, love 46A [Not really sing, say] for LIP SYNC.
@JD-Thanks for the name recognition shout out.
Believe me, getting top center billing like that is not easy.
Oh, one more thing: I had a rare DNF at 68A (and got 61D wrong), because I do not know football from my elbow, and these days NAh is much more common than NAW (turns out there is no John ELhAY in the Pro Football Hall of Fame).
Rex was so worked up about Ms. GAYNOR that he totally forgot to get offended by the HP clue.
@whatsername 9:21 - spot on about Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman.” Thanks for the link. The song was released as a single in May, 1972. Roe v. Wade was decided in January, 1973. It really did feel as though women were becoming empowered; as though if we have to, we can do anything. I have listened to the song several times since the leaked Dobbs opinion appeared and I try to regain the hope and optimism I felt when I first heard the song but I don’t feel quite as strong or invincible as I once did.
The kerfuffle over YAHWEH is so stupid, it's funny. Angst over a made up name for an imaginary being? C'mon, we got REAL problems in this world.
Tough. I knew POPEYE and RENE but the others as clued were WOEs. I’m familiar with GLORIA but @everybody not that song and I my knowledge of Les Miserables is extremely shallow...so tough. Clever idea, liked it.
So are y'all familiar with Gloria Gaynor? She sang that big hit I WILL SURVIVE. Gee, I wonder what ever happened to her.
If I'm not offended, why should you be?
I'm not offended. Those who wrote my full name in the grid today are just fine in my book. Or "Book".
This name-writing thing may be a concern of some Jews, but it is not a concern of all Jews. "Let my people go." Okay?
Today's puzzle could have reached such great heights had the creator read and remembered a 1993 NY Times interview with author Tom Robbins about his forthcoming book, "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas," which concluded with this paragraph:
"There's a line in this book, spoken by a Japanese whose English is somewhat deficient: 'As Popeye say, I sweet potato what I sweet potato.' That broke me up."
I don't know how it could have fit in the puzzle; I just wish it had.
Ay, Dios mío @Nancy. Maybe a little jogging of the mind and a drinky poo and you'd remember?
Kevin is trying to figure out if he's a man so he played this tape asking him to explore his masculinity...(He and Tom Selleck - yummiliciously gorgeous) are lovers but Kevin wants to make sure he IS a man. The recording he's listening to is hilarious and in proper time, GLORIA comes on singing I Will Survive." I could not stop giggling. I think I watched THAT part of the movie a million times.
You can borrow anything of mine you'd like except my toe nails. They are perfect and I don't want to share....
I WILL SURVIVE....la la la la la la la la.....
I Am...I Said.
(To no one there. And no one heard at all, not even Cher.)
So,
Who Do You Think You Are?
I'm Henry VIII, I Am.
I'm Not Lisa.
I Am Woman.
Am I The Same Girl?
I Am A Rock.
I Am The Walrus.
Lotsa names, but was in the know about all the theme ones except for YAHWEH. Didn't know the GAYNOR song, tho. Also didn't know: AQUAVIT. ALBUS. KARL. TEAMJACOB. Knew the rest of the names.
staff weeject pick: PPE. debut abreve meat. Also reminded m&e of POPEYE.
honorary weeject: IAM.
Some nice weeject stacks, runnin thru the lower center lots, btw.
fave names: ISLEY Brothers. LASALLE parked in the MAINLOT.
fave other stuff included: LIPSYNC. ARGENTINA. NAYSAY. BUSLANE thru the MAINLOT. RODEO. E/W puzgrid symmetry. NIL & PEG clues.
fave Ow de Speration: LPGA/LGA. MAINLOT.
Thanx for all that IAM, Mr. Snell dude. And congratz on yer nice debut.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
@errhode's World Series reminiscence sure made me grin. I thought she was a he, but no, Erin Rhodes, who is quite the sportswoman herself if you are a curling fan. I am, and a Giants fan too, and remember that game, which I watched on TV, and of course also heard on the radio. It is always a puzzle whether to go with Jon Miller on the radio, or Kruk and Kuyp on the TV and I tend to do both at the same time. PABLO was everyone's favorite Giant. We pretty much dropped the "Kung Fu" part and just called him Panda.
At my school, almost everyone took French as their modern language, and therefore almost everyone slogged through JEAN VALJEAN. I was grateful (in retrospect) to have taken Latin, followed by 3 intense years of Spanish. Took French too, but only after my Freshman year in college. I regularly read novels in both and am still of the opinion that the best poetry ever written was in Spanish.
Of course I got RENEDESCARTES right off, and POPEYE. The other quotes were more of a guess. But the concept was well done and the fill was Easy but not too Easy. It was a challenge right up to the end, as I had forgotten about John ELWAY, whom my 49ers basically destroyed in the SuperBowl. We had Joe Montana!
Never been to ARGENTINA, but a cousin and I had a wonderful trip to Chile, to meet my daughter who had spent 8 weeks sea kayaking and then hiking in Patagonia. We met her in Puerto Montt, and in her honor visited three of poet PABLO Neruda's houses.
@Zed, can we get a PPP count? Is it the highest you've ever seen?
p.s.
@Zed - yep. What @Bet the over 12:44 pm just suggested. It might pop our eyes.
Thanx,
M&Also
illustrated; so, recommendin the Down Home solvequest route:
**gruntz**
I don't know about Gloria, but Mitzi Gaynor, who famously appeared on the same Sullivan show as the Beatles US debut, made much more of an impression on what was then a very impressionable youth than did the fabulous four. Apropos nothing much, I guess.
No time to arrange playdates for your demanding kids? Drop them off at the Descartes Descares Center! If you think you're experiencing the ultimate in descares services, it's because you are!
Amen
Joe D - loved your play on words with ND's song! I didn't understand it at first (the ref to Cher), but then clicked on your link. First thought was "Oh no, a ND song..." But I sat through the whole thing and wondered why a "chair"? So many other/better lines to use. "Not even a chair" - seriously? 🤔
But the funny thing is, I got so engrossed in the song and that stupid (IMO) lyric that I completely forgot about your "funny"! So I arrow back from YT and then I see " Cher" in your post (again) and burst out laughing!
Thanks for the moment of 😊
Bravo!
Loved to see Kung Fu Panda! That was the highlight for me. Quite a few head scratchers, but thankfully helpful crosses. YAHWEH made me think fondly of my freshmen year roomie at Illinois. A self-proclaimed “almost orthodox” woman of Jewish heritage and faith, she and her oh so welcoming parents introduced me to their rich history and faith and food. And from them I learned YUD KAY VAV KAY and YAKVEK. I have been forever grateful for such kind and patient friends. Love puzzles that evome such good memories.
Complete selfishly, if I could have one crossword wish it would be to never have sports-themed clues again. ELWAY and PABLO were a big trouble for me today. Took me a while to realize I wasn't looking for a soccer play named NI_ Love, and I had NAH before NAW.
GLORIA GAYNOR and LACAGE (aux) FOLLES have the same number of letters. La Cage aux Folles is not a person, but that might have been a better answer (with appropriate modification of the clue).
Too many unknowns in this for me. I had BUS LINE at 7D instead of BUS LANE so 24A was JEANVILJEAN. The B at 3D TEAM JACOB was just a guess but still couldn't fill in 41A ALB_S and 34D TR_, so I threw in the towel, fell on my sword and took the DNF.
Did enjoy seeing RENÉ DESCARTES at 49A. DESCARTES tried what he called radical doubting and found that the only thing that he couldn't doubt the reality of was the fact that he was doubting. So maybe the quote should be "I doubt, therefore I am."
He was able to even doubt the reality of the world around him. He asked his reader if they had ever had a dream so real and vivid that they only realized it was just a dream after they woke up. Of course most of us would say yes. If that's the case then maybe someday we will have another awakening and realize that what we thought of all along as being our waking life was also but a dream. That's some radical doubting there, people.
After that philosophical zinger, there's only one thing to do.
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream
I highly recommend today's LA Times crossword puzzle. Much better than the NYT today. Easier, but a neat theme and more interesting fill.
Jackson actually homered on FOUR consecutive swings. He walked on four pitches in his first AB in Game 6. And homered in his last plate appearance in Game 5. FOUR CONSECUTIVE SWINGS!
Reggie bombed an HR during his first AB on opening day in 78 as well (the Reggie Bar game). Raise your hand if your ended up in the outfield.
It’s high for sure.
Aw shucks, @old timer 12:42. When you talked about some famous Giants baseball game that you watched on TV and heard on the radio, I was sure you meant The Miracle of Coogan's Bluff/Bobby Thomson game of 1951. But, alas, you didn't. The game you're talking about came long after I stopped watching baseball. And I stopped watching baseball in 1957 when my beloved Giants were spirited out of NY in the dead of night and I realized that baseball owners were a crass, greedy lot who did not deserve my loyalty.
@errhode 9:39 AM. Great baseball memory. I was a Panda maniac (although a diehard Cubs fan) and cheered myself hoarse at the tv that game despite also loving Verlander. My love of the game and a bestie through high school, also a super fan had summer long arguments over our stacks of baseball cards î
I’m a Panda fan too (despite being a lifelong Cubs fan) and have such good memories of that game/series. Loved Verlander too. Thanks for the wonderful memory.
I thought the Southern half, was excellent with the thematic triad of RENEDESCARTES POPEYE JAHWEH topped with LIPSYNC. Plus the SELMA RODEO.
I am always amused by how close the POPEYE saying is to the name of God. I think I even mentioned it on this blog.
From GLORIA GAYNOR up not so good theme-wise. But some nice fill. Clues for EDEN LPGA ARGENTINA. GUSSY DEMURE SMELT LASALLE. I wish the ALA was atop LAL. Close but no cigar.
PABLO and TEAMJACOB had fair crosses. Not as happy with JEANVALJEAN crossing AQUAVITA but not that unhappy.
ADOS and IDOS was a bit much.
Mirror symmetry two days in a row.
The Giant world series game I remember the most (just like Charlie Brown) was when McCovey failed to hit his bullet line drive 3 inches higher and Bobby Richardson snagged it for the final out of the series. What a heartbreaker.
I was thinking the same thing!
To me this was Thu-Fri level. Obscure terms, PPP. I'm not a philosophy major (I have a job that earns money, but I did know POPEYE) so it played a bit tougher for me.
Heritage building with an Idyllic location for romantic getaways. Katoomba Mountain Lodge Accommodation; 20 minutes walk from Echo Point!
Mountain accommodation
I really enjoyed this one.
Loved the mix of names! RENEDESCARTES and POPEYE - all great 😜philosophers! YAHWEH and GAYNOR!
Come on - how much fun is that?
Very fast and easy - maybe my CIRCADIANRHYTHM (oops that was yesterday) is more suited to late night 🧩 solves.
Great puzz!
🤗🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🤗
FYI, as mentioned on Twitter, Black Ink does handle italics and other NYT fanciness these days, if you download the puzzle from the app itself. https://twitter.com/danielpunkass/status/1547421909737955328
😄😄😄
It is the same song. Different arrangement but it's Jerry Herman.
Sorry for the very late answer, but “only” 36%. Nowhere near a record on PPP.
I only knew because I was in The Sound of Music in high school and that was how the father's name was spelled in the script and pronounced Gayorg.
Tuesday's clue for "grok" is weak. It connotes a deep, almost spiritual understanding. Read RA Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land," sadly a book that hasn't traveled well in time for me. Though I think it's an ugly word, I still hate to see "grok" misused, as it is by so many here.
For today, I thought for sure that "ooh ooh" would be a meta-themer, if that's even a thing. Or even better, "hoo hoo" but I have no idea how to clue that.
GLORIA GAYNOR’s I am What I Am was a gay anthem back in the day. I know it very well!
I always loved "I am as God made me" from Spinal Tap.
A classmate of mine coined: "I think, therefore I am screwed." It was impromptu, in the middle of a Risk game, and we all roared.
This was a bit unusual in that there was no actual revealer; we just had to figure out what was going on as the solve progressed. At first I was trying to fit Robin Williams in where GLORIA GAYNOR is...that was, of course, before getting to the sweet potato clue. Sorta fun, solving, despite numerous PPPs. Liked some of it; didn't like others (anagram of THROES, BTW). Par.
BBBBG
GBGBG
GGGGG
I thought the gimmick was fine, although some of the themers are far more familliar than others with POPEYE being the #1 entry. and YAHWEH being the last. I don’t know about the Gloria Gaynor hit “I am what I am” but Wikepedia confirms it is one of her biggest, so I guess that’s a legit entry in spite of Rex’s objections.
Gloria Gaynor (née Fowles; born September 7, 1943 is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), "Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (1979), "I Am What I Am" (1983), and her version of "Never Can Say Goodbye" (1974).
Similarly, I do not recall the phrase spoken by Jean Valjean even though I watched Les Miserables. But it’s a song in the movie/play so that too is entirely legit.
One thing I didn’t like was the clue for 23D. If you’re going to be vague and cutesy like that there better be a big aha! moment for the solver. ALAS it’s bland as can be. The crossing for 41A and 34D (ALBUS-TRU) is a Natick. I guessed the U and I guessed right but I’m pretty sure many did not and that isn’t fair. LPGA was clued in a sly manner but there was a tangible aha! moment so it gets a pass.
But aside from a few nits this one is a solid Wednesday offering. A bit on the challenging side. It could have been a Thursday. But it is what it is and that’s alright.
PS - Q: What is the disposable lighter’s favorite poetic meter?
A: Iambic
(I am Bic).
NEXT ONME
TEAMJACOB had the GALL
to CEASE MERE OLY one night -
RYE and AQUAVIT for all -
they could LIPSYNC, not BITE.
--- KARL-JORG LASALLE
NEXT ONME
TEAMJACOB had the GALL
to CEASE MERE OLY one night -
RYE and AQUAVIT for all -
they could LIPSYNC, not BITE.
--- KARL-JORG LASALLE
As they say, "It Is What It Is and It Ain't What It Ain't."
After 100 wordles 6 in two, 33 in three, 37 in four, 20 in five, 4 other.
And from Jon Prine's 'Dear Abby':
Bewildered,bewildered you have no complaint,
You are what you are and you aint what you aint.
So listen up buster and listen up good,
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood.
Signed, Dear Abby.
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